To Pluck an Apple
by KanomeUchiha
Summary: An AU story where Yako is playing the role of Snow White, and Neuro is the 'Beast'. Based on Once Upon a Time logic that all storybook characters live in the same world. (Rated M for later chapters.)
1. Chapter 1

There was snow on the ground, the birds away for the winter and no song to greet her in the morning. Yako was living out in the woods alone, the people that normally lived with her gone to trade with the townsfolk for goods that would be needed in the colder winter months.

The young girl opened a window to let the crisp air in while she went to work, preparing herself a simple breakfast. It had been 12 years now that she had lived out here, far from the home she had been born too after being found wandering the woods as a child. The blonde haired youth didn't remember much before her life here, having only been 5 when she had been found. She had been lucky that the family of brothers had taken her in at all, with times as hard as they were for the working class. Yako had earned her keep though, cleaning the house and cooking the meals. Mending clothes and working in the small garden they used in the warmer months to grow their own vegetables.

Things had been good the way they were, and Yako had even had chances to earn herself some money doing such things, allowing her to buy things she didn't really need, but enjoyed all the same. Her most recent of these purchases had been a set of hair-clips. The girl wasn't sure how often she would get to wear them, but she'd gotten them all the same, a gift to herself on her 17th birthday.

After her breakfast, the now fed Yako set about gathering the bedding, taking it outside to beat out the dirt and bugs before the cold grew to such that she would no longer be able to do this. The girl wore a simple garment while completing her chores, a dress of faded blue and yellow that kept her warm, despite it's years, as she worked. The brothers she lived with weren't expected back for days yet, and that would give her time finish everything that needed to be done.

The brown eyed girl was so engrossed in her work, that when a man came out from the trees, dressed in all black with a long cape that never seemed to touch the ground, seeming to study the cabin, that she didn't even notice him. Not until he passed in front of her, circling the building as if deeming whether or not it was worth his time. The stunned girl stared at the man, surprised she hadn't heard his steps on the fresh snow and even more so that he was looking at her home, but completely ignoring her presence. It was only after he seemed finished looking over the building that he turned to look at her, giving her a once over before smiling and muttering something. After that he took back to the woods, leaving the girl to wonder if she had even seen something real, or if it had been a spirit.

It wouldn't be for a few more days, on the brothers' return, that she would learn that an old castle that was just a few miles from their little home had been cleaned out and renovated, and that some secluded count had taken to living there.

It would be months before Yako saw the strange man again.


	2. Chapter 2

Three months had come and gone. The snow had started melting just a few days ago, the green of the forest already quickly returning. Yako was working at the soil of the family's little garden, helping to break it up so it would be ready for the planting after all the snow as gone.

The blonde girl had long forgotten the instance of the strange man investigating the little home, her mind on more important things as she did her best to keep the two brothers she lived with in check while they were stuck for the winter. The younger of the brothers was easier to handle, but it was the elder one, the one that did most of the hunting and kept them safe whenever road bandits attempted robbing them, that was harder to keep calm. The young girl had noticed though, that over the last few weeks as the weather warmed, the older brother had been spending more and more time with the lone hunter that lived on his own down at the river. She didn't mind, glad for the break.

Yako was musing over the things she would need do do before planting as she worked, her round face scrunched up as she was lost in thought. After the girl was done with the garden ground breaking, she would have to get herself ready to make a trip into town. They would need supplies now, for the growing months. Enough seeds to plant the whole of the plot, and last year one of their spades had snapped, so they would need another as well as other little things needed throughout the home.

The sun had already started peaking over the treetops when Yako rubbed the sweat from her forehead, finally finished with her morning chore. The young blonde went inside, washing the dirt from her hands in the washbasin in her room, moving to her closet to change out of her working clothes. She had never been a flashy girl, putting on one of her rather plain, light blue dresses before brushing out her short blonde hair, adding in her new clips to either side. The small girl smiled a little in her hand mirror, imagining what she might have looked like if she had been given a greater gift of beauty, like the girls she saw in town. With a little sigh she set the mirror down, gathering together some bread and a bit of cheese, since she was given to fits of hunger and the girl didn't want to be stuck without food. With that, and the money in her pocket, Yako left the home with a good bye to whoever might be left in it, since the brothers had yet to be seen.

The walk to the village took Yako three hours, the girl having made it through half of the food she had brought just after getting to her destination. The errand running itself was rather boring, greeting old friends and meeting new babies that had been born over the winter. She wondered if she would ever be like that, happy with a home of her own and a baby in her arms. She couldn't help the laugh that bubbled to her lips at the thought of her brothers meeting any man she brought home.

With the rest of the errands done, and a sturdy wicker basket filled with the things she had purchased, she sat down outside the town to finish off the last of the food she had brought. The girl mused to herself about the future, though nothing further than what she was going to make for dinner tonight.

If Yako had had any sense at all, she would have known she as being watched by the very same man that had been at her home only months before.

(The next chapter will be covering the months of winter that passed in Neuro's point of view.)


End file.
